We know it’s fake. But we watch anyway.
A politician contradicts themselves mid-sentence. A “documentary” quietly re-stages its scenes. A reality show manufactures tension, then promotes it as unscripted. And not only do we accept it, but we also click, we binge, we applaud.
Somewhere along the way, we made a trade: truth for entertainment. And we didn’t even haggle.
The Rise of Performative Everything
It’s not just that the truth gets distorted; it’s that increasingly, it doesn’t matter anymore. News is now entertainment. Politicians are brands. Documentaries are scripted. Even my own guilty secret passion, reality TV, once sold as a voyeur’s delight, now has producers creating story arcs as if they’re in a writers’ room (because they often are). They orchestrate love triangles, stir up conflict, and even script dialogue for the “unscripted.”
It’s not that we’re being duped. We’re in on it. And perhaps that’s the point. If the seams show, we don’t care. Maybe we prefer it that way.
The same goes for politics. We know our governments aren’t telling the full truth. We realise that spin is part of every announcement. But if the performance is convincing and if the leader seems “strong,” “relatable,” or simply entertaining, then we ignore the gaps. Or worse, we forget to question them.
Truth no longer holds value. Attention is what matters.
Why We Fall for It: The Fluency Trap
Psychologists have a name for this tendency: the “truthiness” effect. It turns out we don’t judge facts by their logic, but by how easy they are to process. Short sentences, bold fonts, high-contrast visuals, and repetition all create what’s called processing fluency. And fluency feels like truth.
That’s why slick ads work. That’s why political slogans stick. It’s why you’re more likely to believe a myth the second or third time you hear it. Even if you know it’s false. Familiarity builds trust.
And the first repeat? That’s the most powerful of all.
Of course, not every catchy lie becomes gospel. But when repetition meets emotion, especially fear or outrage, the combo is dynamite. We’re wired to remember what’s simple and sticky, not what’s complicated and nuanced.
Which is a problem, because truth is rarely simple or sleek.
So What’s the Cost?
The most obvious casualty is trust.
In a setting where truth is elusive, we become more suspicious, not just of the news but of each other. Institutions lose their authority. Experts are met with suspicion. Debates turn into tribal rituals. And facts become “your version” and “mine.”
Eventually, people stop caring about what’s true. They focus on how something feels. If it flatters their worldview, it resonates. If it threatens their tribe, it’s fake news.
We cease to live in a shared reality and begin living in curated feeds.
From Spectacle to Suspicion
This craving for drama doesn’t just erode truth. It fertilises conspiracy.
If every news story seems like propaganda, and every leader appears like a performer, it’s easy to believe everything is a cover-up. Conspiracies flourish in this environment, not because people are naive, but because they are confused. When nothing feels genuine, almost anything could be true.
Especially the entertaining lies like those involving secret cabals, coded clues, and convenient villains. Conspiracies don’t just explain the world; they tell a story about it. They restore meaning, agency, and drama. In a strange way, they satisfy the same craving as entertainment.
And once you’re watching the world like a show, it makes sense to assume someone’s writing the script.
But It’s Not All Doom
Here’s the surprising part: myth correction does work.
Despite popular belief, repeating a myth to debunk it generally doesn’t make it worse as long as the correction is clear, concise, and non-threatening to identity. The key is to start with the fact, identify the myth, and provide a better mental model.
The same fluency effect that helps lies spread can also help truth fight back, as long as we make it easier to process. Short sentences. Clean layouts. Concrete examples. Not to dumb things down, but to reduce friction.
Truth needs better design. Not just better evidence.
The Friction Solution
If fluency is the trap, then friction is the only way out. Our brains are wired to prefer the path of least resistance, which makes a smooth lie more appealing than a harsh truth. We’ve become a culture that values the “vibe” over the evidence.
But awareness is a double-edged sword. Now that we can see the seams in the performance, the scripted “unscripted” moments and the manufactured political slogans, we have a choice. We can continue to applaud the spectacle, or we can start asking why the story feels so smooth.
Next time a headline feels perfectly tailored to your worldview, or a slogan seems effortlessly right the second time you hear it, pause. If it feels too easy to believe, it’s probably time to start haggling.